She put her fingers against his lips to still his words. “Don’t play me for a fool. I did the best I could with your injuries, but now that you’re part of reality again, you owe me answers.”

His voice was low, soft and very serious. “Lauren, please don’t ask. I can’t—”

“I don’t want to hear I can’t.” She fixed him with a hard stare. “I want answers, Kyle.”

He tugged on her hand until he had closed the last small gap between them. His lips brushed against hers, then he captured her mouth fully in a hot and sensual kiss.

She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the warmth that flowed through her, until it almost obscured her thoughts. When she spoke, her words were barely above a whisper. “Who are you, Kyle Delaney? Why are you here? And what am I involved in?” She had to ask…but she wasn’t so sure she wanted to hear the answers.

He took her hand again, bringing it to his lips. “You have to let this go, Laruen. You can’t become involved. You have to trust me—and I have to trust that you’ll maintain your silence.”

Her voice a barely discernible whisper, Lauran said, “I don’t think I can do that….”

Lauren Jamison sensed danger and secrets when Kyle Delaney entered her waterfront store. Not for a moment did she believe the dark stranger was an ordinary man. Instinctively she knew he lived on the edge, belonged to a world of deception. But unable to resist him, she became a prisoner of passion.

Then one stormy night her world shattered when she found his body in the moonlight—shot and delirious from pain. Before he collapsed, he told her to follow his instructions or they’d both wind up dead. Just who was Kyle Delaney? And should Lauren risk her heart—and her life—for a man who might be on the wrong side of the law?